http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/bimae/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from bimae en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:15:13 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:15:13 +0000 To get to Kathmandu the most common route by land is through Sonauli. If you're coming from Delhi take the train to Gorakhpur for info on trains see blog on trains in India and the buses going to Sonauli are on the street across from the train station perpendicular to the train stn. There are many buses and it takes 3 hours to get to the border there's a lot of info on the internet and in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Uttar-Pradesh/Sunauli/blog-400690.html I took the morning express train from Thrissur to Kochi Ernakulam on March 30. My host in Kochi had to work so I wondered around the city by myself which was great. I had lunch at the indiancoffeehouse.com near the Main Jetty it was the worst food I've had anywhere in India so do avoid it at all cost. I took the ferry to Fort Kochi and walked around a bit went to the Jain temple and then the D http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/Kochi-/blog-389610.html There was such a huge difference in vegetation as soon as I got into Kerala. the forests were so green and of course there were coconut trees everywhere Kerala land of the coconuts.I took the overnight train from Goa Thivim to Kannur on March 21. I got off at Kannapuram as my host was in Taliparamba. His family is Christian he has a wife and 2 daughters and they took me to church on Sund http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Kerala/blog-389591.html left Mumbai on March 17. the train left on time but got there 2.5 hours late. met Kim from Williams Lake BC on the train who talked about setting up a community where nobody gets paid unless everyone in the community is well. in the same compartment was also Desmond from Goa who was in Mumbai for a job interview to work on a ship with a US company. I got off at Thivim at 740pm. There was also http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Goa/Calangute/blog-386048.html The idea of relieving poverty by simply giving has become quite evidently the wrong thing to do. It's the old adage give a man a fish and he eats for a day teach him how to fish and he eats for life. The problem of giving aid and relief is most evident in African countries where foreign aid has existed the longest. People are realizing now that their approach has to change. check out Dambisa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-385175.html The flight from Mumbai to Dubai was only 2 hours but I didnrsquot eat or drink anything because everything on board the Jazeera Airways costs money even the water. This is because Jazeera Airways is really cheap and has minimal service such as they donrsquot do baggage transfers if you have a connecting flight. The flight from Mumbai to Dubai was only 100 everything included. The return f http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/United-Arab-Emirates/Dubai/blog-382122.html I had a flight at 350am. I started out at midnight from Andheri Railway Station. I got in a rickshaw the driver started the meter and took off but then turned around and told me that I will have to pay 200 Rs so I got out. I asked another rickshaw driver who said 150 Rs. I walked a bit more and the third driver said 60 Rs so I got in. he also started his meter. When we got there the meter said http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-382119.html went trekking in the Harishchandra range in Maharashtra. the summit is 1424m. we started on sat. feb 21. I was to meet my friends Mallik and Sanjay in Kalyan at 6pm. They were taking the train from Mumbai to Kalyan. As for me I started at 330pm from Savarsai village took a rickshaw to Pen then from Pen I took a bus to Panvel then from Panvel I took another bus to Kalyan. I didn't know ther http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Nashik/blog-379078.html Irsquom here in the village of Savarsai about 75 km south of Mumbai just outside of Pen city. Apparently this Child Haven CH home has a better location than some of the other homes we are surrounded by the countryside with a nice view of the hills and farms on one side. It is also the smallest home with only 32 kids at the moment. I absolutely love the kids they are great to be around. T http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-372636.html Rock climbingOne of the guys I climb with in Toronto is from Mumbai and he hooked me up with climbers in Mumbai. The climbers I met here belong to an outdoor club called ldquoAdventurers and Explorersrdquo and they do hiking trekking rock climbing and all kinds of outdoor stuff depending on whatever the members are into. Every January they hold a rock climbing training course for beginner http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-372631.html Initially I lived in a suburb called Goregoan East in the Royal Palms area. While living there I explored the suburbs Hiranandani and Andheri East which were close by. In Hiranandani there was a really nice plazalike section not sure how to describe it or outdoor mall type thing that had shops and restaurants on two levels with an open courtyard in the middle. I like it because of the stone http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-372630.html landed in Mumbai on Jan 16 at 120am. Note that all international flights landing in and departing from India happen between midnight and 6am. This is so that the flight will land indepart from the other airport at a normal human hour. Most other airports donrsquot have people working during these ungodly hours but in India lots of people will work these hours which is why Mumbai airport was t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Maharashtra/Mumbai/blog-365704.html The beaches I went to were Pereybere in the north Belle Mare and Blue Bay in the east Gris Gris and Rivieres des Galets in the south Le Morne in the southwest La Preneuse and Flic en Flac in the west. I went snorkeling in Belle Mare Blue Bay Le Morne La Preneuse and Flic en Flac.Pereybere was way way too crowded. Itrsquos made up of several small beaches. Gris Gris has very big waves but http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritius/blog-365695.html Landed in Mauritius on Dec 30 stayed at Auberge de Rose Hill. It was the cheapest I found and it was 24 Cdn per night which includes breakfast of bread with butter jam tea or coffee and tang fake orange juice. There were no dorms just room with bath. the bed sheets didnrsquot look clean and everything was pretty dingy. I found that the window could not lock and the room was on street le http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mauritius/blog-365692.html Dec 23 went body surfing in the early morning in Strand. the beach was beautiful and the water not too cold. well I was wearing a very thick full body wet suit so it was all cozy walked on the beach from Strand to Gordon's Bay. found a beautiful shell a dead shark about 3.5 ft long and touched a dead chiton which made my fingers numb. I wanted to take the chiton with me because it was so be http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Somerset-West/blog-361741.html I'm here in SA because a few years back in Toronto I met Alex Beeslaar a colleague from work and we became friends and rock climbing partners. He returned to SA about 2 years ago and eventually settled in Cape Town. since I knew somebody here had heard that it's one of the top ten places to visit in the world plus that there's awesome rock climbing here so I came. I spent Christmas with Alex a http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/blog-357714.html first never hike alone because a it's very easy to get lost as there are numerous trails and most are not markedb there are muggers in the mountainc the weather could turn nasty very suddenly for example so foggy that you can't see anything andd if you get injured others can get help.The mountain around here is quite treacherous in many parts and the weather can change suddenly. it coul http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-357705.html I've been in South Africa SA for only a month so probably not entirely correct in my views but here's my 2 cents worth.the first thing is to get a cell phone which is very cheap as everybody here lives by cell phones and it's almost impossible to find residential land lines and sometimes hard to find a public phone that works. with a cell phone you can hook up with people to go hiking etc. sin http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-357693.html to hook up with people to go rock climbing in Cape Town try the forum in climb.co.za visit the indoor climbing gym City Rock or send a message to the Mountain Club of South Africa Cape Town Section or go to their facebook group and post something there. I found one guy to climb with through the Mountain Club John Sterianos and one girl from City Rock.for sport climbing I went to Silvermine http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-357684.html Correction for the info I gave previously about Gemini Backpackers in Johannesburg they now charge R80 for a dorm bed. Get a copy of Alternative Route or Coast to Coast both free from any tourist place in South Africa SA. they contain all the info for backpackers including accommodation tours safaris activities buses etc. I stayed one night at Abreakaway in Muizenberg southern part of C http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/South-Africa/Western-Cape/Cape-Town/blog-357361.html